Bangladesh bow out of Asian Games with heads held high

Jakarta: Bangladesh have bowed out of Asian Games 2018 after their 1-3 loss against Democratic People’s Republic (DPR) of Korea aka North Korea on Friday.

The Red and Greens fought hard till the final whistle but the class of the Koreans was just too much for the inexperienced U23 side to overcome.

The Koreans began on the front foot straight from the 6:30pm (BDST) kick-off at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium in Bekasi, Indonesia.

In the early minutes of the game, defender Sushanto Tripura handled the ball while trying to clear a dangerous cross into the area which resulted in a penalty for the Koreans.

Yu Song Kim made no mistake from the spot and gave Koreans the lead in the 13th minute.

In the 38th minute, a beautiful piece of inter-play saw Korean forward Yong-Thae Han through behind the last line of defence who beat goalkeeper Rana with a thunderous right-footer from inside the right hand side of the box.

The teams went into the break with North Korea leading 0-2.

After the kick-off, Bangladesh looked more likely to create dangerous attacks but it was the Koreans who eventually got their 3-goal cushion.

In the 69th minute, defender Tutul Hossain Badsha miskicked a volley while trying to clear it from inside the box and a Korean forward stole the ball, ran close to the goal line to cut it back and put it on a plate for Kuk Chol Kang who made no mistake to tap the ball home for their third goal.

With elimination looming, Bangladesh forwards went forward with all they had and started to create problems for the Korean defence.

Finally, in the first minute of the added time, Bangladesh got their consolation goal.

The Korean keeper came out to punch a dangerous cross from the left wing but failed to do so only to leave the goal gaping for Saad Uddin who kept his composure, controlled the ball with his chest and volleyed it with his right foot through a flock of players and into the net.

After a few more fruitless attacks from Bangladesh, the referee blew the final whistle to signal the end of Bangladesh’s historic campaign in the Asian games.

This is the first time in their history that Bangladesh made it to the Round of 16 of the Asian Games.

And the goal from Saad Uddin came as more than a consolation as the players proved that the name and stature of the opponent or the scoreline is not going to bother this young bunch of players from giving it their all till the final whistle, not anymore.